Apple is giving consumers an incentive to use its new Apple Card. During a recent earnings call, it was announced that users can soon finance a new iPhone on their Apple Card with 24 months of no interest, plus receive 3% cash back.
Some have already coined the program “Apple Prime,” but it is not a subscription service just yet. For now, it is simply a financing opportunity, similar to what a person may receive through their cell phone carrier.
The 24 month financing program is set to launch later this year, just in time for the holidays.
In the future, Apple may use this as an opportunity to create subscription bundles by tying Apple TV+ streaming, Apple Music, and other services to an iPhone payment plan. This converts one lump sum into a series of monthly payments.
At the iPhone 11 conference in September, Apple made a push to encourage customers to trade in their old iPhones. They showed that a base model iPhone 11 was $699, but that reduced to $399 with an eligible trade-in. With 24 months of no-interest financing, that comes to $16.63 per month. The transaction also yields a total of $11.97 in cash back on the Apple Card.
Apple has received five times more trade-ins this year than last year, according to the company’s CFO Luca Maestri.